New version awful

[Grampa34698]

The new version of Thunderbird (115.3.1) is awful!  The whole format is completely foreign and I see no way to reformat things like they were or any way to get back to the previous layout.  Please provide a way to get back to the previous layout.  I'm not anxious to switch over to another e-mail client but if I'm forced to use this product in the state it is in, I may have to change.  I've happily used Thunderbird for many years and am thoroughly disgusted with the change.  Please make things right again.

[WallySchiller]

I agree.  It is not an improvement.  For one thing, it is slow.
When clicking on an unread email, it is slow in changing to read.  Sometimes, it does not change at all but remains as unread.
The "Get messages" button is poor - hard to see.
Why are things changed when they work as they were?  I would like to go back to the previous version.

[Filantes]

I totally agree. Why do everyone these days force BAD designs down our throats? With no easy possibility to revert back or change to different designs. 

It´s just awful. Who in there right mind decided this was a better design? It´s slow and ugly. Are you just having a laugh at your users or trying to make them switch to another service? 

Forced objectively bad designs with no other choice should be a crime. 

[WallySchiller]

Does anybody know of any means of returning to a previous version?  I need to get back from this horrible update.

[gregoireg]

This new version is HORRIBLE. I reverted back to 102. A pure nightmare to revert because 115 modifies the profile and you can't open it in 102. This is HORRIBLE. How is this possible?

[gregoireg]

I eventually managed to revert back to 102 on Ubuntu. A pure nightmare to revert because 115 modifies the profile and you can't open it in 102. The only option is to take a backup of your profile saved with 102 otherwise you are screwed.

[PCThoughts]

And you can't even sort things by dates!

It's maddening!

[mvnrsa]

Totally agree.  The layout on 115 is awful and really hampers daily productivity.
Change it BACK or make a way to change the format BACK.

[asciiman]

It's not a bug!  It's a feature!!! </sarc>  🙄

[cyranose]

...and it doesn't even WORK too well.

[Rusty_Alexander]

I would like to add my disgust to that of many others.  Apart from the various operational differences that have been implemented, I find that the spacing of messages is now so crammed together, as to make the whole thing seem way too difficult to read at a quick glance, and the repetitive pop-up about Microsoft 365 is driving me nuts.  I will run a Windows 10 restore point to see if the old format comes back, and failing that, I shall have to look for a new client.

[vlpast]

I've just received this update. What a mess!

I wish I could easily revert back to v102 (

[PCThoughts]

Shingles doesn't care, and they don't either!

[wjdingdev]

I can't agree more. I have no idea why TB is going worse. :S The new layout does not support efficient work. And, also, I found the old bug (fixed years ago) gets poping up again!

[Meem55]

I have to agree with this. Although I wouldn't call it really awful but it's way less intuitive.
Couple of years ago I stopped with MS Outlook (THAT had become really awful) and switched to TB.
It was such a relieve to have a normal, intuitive mail program again.
But this now changed with 115 😞 so I reverted back to 102.

And at first I thought it really was me, but looking here in the forum and other forums like Reddit and so on, I see I'm not the only one.

[Anonymous]

Can you help us to revert back to v.102?  A good few on here want to know.

[1Bakuchiku]

Unbeleavable what they have done!🤐 The message lists no longer end at the last message, but somewhere.  The appearance takes more than getting used to. Old errors like the filter lists are still not fixed. Bring the previous Version back!

[Peter1410]

This is the most apalling change - graphically poor, more difficult to use, and much less readable. This change - NOT asked for, nobut forced on users without their consent, needs to be reversed, urgently. Instead of messing up a workable display etc, Thunderbird should spend its time on making it more reliable, less prone to crashes, and much less need for repeated updates.. The change made to this system is NOT an improvement, it is backwards. At the VERY LEAST, Thunderbird needs urfgently to make it easy to revert to the earlier system, and give the ability to block this nonsensee from future altering users computers without asking. ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS

[DRocket]

Really, the objective of any updated software is to improve the ease of use. When you are looking at something like a desktop email client, you know that hundreds of thousands of users are using Thunderbird in their working day, all day long. They have a job and simply don't have the time to rebuild the usability of their "desktop tool." This version has basically disrupted the workflow, like someone broke in overnight and trashed your office, so that you have to clean the whole room before you can go back to work. I shouldn't have to be trying to find an easy on the eye font and a color theme. The work flow should be the same as before, even if someone developing thought it wasn't worth keeping it that way. I do have decades of emails in my Thunderbird, I use it not only for email but I also keep many records, like receipts, in different folders for purchases. So in a sense it is also like a database of my life. I'll get an email from someone after 15 years and it will still go into the folder that has a filter for it. 

[PCThoughts]

Exactly!!!   This is a hobby to these guys, probably many young ones, because they don't GET PAID to do this!  So it's a toy, a game and thet get mad AT US because we don't want to PLAY BECAUSE we have MANY pressures on us to work, make money, managelives and  many serious things and people situations and so we are "the bad guys" because they led us to believe we could TRUST THEM!   But they wrecked out world in a BIG way and think that we are grateful?  And can't understand why we don't want to play?

[Peter1410]

Thank you f(and others) for your thoughts. I have tried to see if the new system will work effectively. Apart from the poor design and layout, it is appallingly slow . The taskbar can say there are messages to display, and the old TThunderbird would know that - now it will - eventually - do so once the Inbox' tab is clicked on. If deleting old emails, it randomly jumps after a few to somewhere way away from work point. It has become unreliable, often displaying the 'not responding' mesasage which was not present before. Thunderbird were advised some time ago of afault whereby it was 'doing something else' when at start upp it went to download emails. They have not corrected that, but wasted their 'efforts' on this much MUCH poorer version, and withouth (as yet) the possibility to return to a system that worked fairly well (much better than this does. Above all, NOBODY from Thunderbird has had the good manners to a) say when they will put this mess right, b) restore the old, or even c) apologise for the inconvenience caused. Thunderbird used to be the email system to recommend - but this latest version means that could not be done now. It has been suggested that people could return to the old if they first create a backup of the profile, etc. Maybe - but this awful system auto installed by Thunderbird without asking, without explanation, and without the option to restore the old. That is totally unacceptable. As others have said, the Thunderbird team have made what was a working (bar the error listed above) system into a much much worse one. DEfinitely not progress, and clearly not wanted by many users.

[DRocket]

We were on vacation when this happened. I had no prewarning there was going to be a change. I turned on my computer and opened my Thunderbird email to see that it had updated to some kind of mess and I had over a thousand emails pour into my account to manage. I never had time to do a current backup before this happened. I don't normally allow automatic version updates on things, waiting a bit to see how other people are responding. I learned my lesson with WordPress to never just assume that any ole' plugin is going to work with my websites. One bad plugin can take down a WP site. That happened to me when a theme I had purchased, automatically updated a plugin that was crucial to the development plugin, WPBakery, of the original site. I had complained to the theme developer endlessly that it had been over a year and they hadn't updated certain plugins that were considered not safe and critical to remove from use. The WPBakery plugin wasn't stable and completely took down many other user's websites as well. The only solution was to try go backwards to the older version of the accessory plugin, which didn't work well, there was a lot of damage. I complained about it for weeks but, as with many themes that pack the theme with other plugins as a package, the theme owner disavowed the numerous users that couldn't get their site back up. I had to rebuild a major portion of the website after this. I don't really want to have to rebuild a lot of years of Thunderbird usage right now. I'm not sure how the transition to BetterBird works, if it will just mirror every single folder and the overall theme that I had or if I will have bits and pieces of stuff missing. What is interesting to me is that Thunderbird never decided to build an email app for cell phone. I use TypeApp, which is a great email client. It's easy to set up and use. In fact, more times than not, I just open my phone to write an email. Right now I am relying on it heavily to see my emails and respond immediately.

[Margareta]

Agree with everyone above! The list of mails in the inbox is extremely hard to glance over. I tried to make the text bigger, but that didn't help. It is too compressed, so you have to read it carefully and slowly to find the mail you are searching. Why is this change made?? We want the old view back!!

[Agentvirtuel]

Hello

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/thunderbird-115-2-3-horrible-layout/m-p/42363/highlight/t...
https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/thunderbird-115-2-3-horrible-layout/m-p/42870/highlight/t...

[powersource]

I agree. It seems like a buggy beta version. When I go to my inbox I each time I have to scroll through all the old emails to get to the new ones. Plus all the other bugs mentioned above. I am not even sure how this released.

[PCThoughts]

iT LOOKS LIKE THEY DON'T RESPECT ANY OF OUR POSTS OR CONCERNS.

IF THEY HAD ANY SOUL, THEY WOULD LET US GO BACK UNTIL IT WORKED MUCH BETTER.

[Gruzimix]

Why the hell i have to press "update". Again the better is enemy to good. TB was good. Small changes were needed. But now - we need option to roll back. Don't force bad UX solutions to the people! Test first, then make release! New policy of giving bad products (aka Cyberpunk) and repair it on the fly is a really bad way 😞

[cyranose]

I'm in total agreement!  I find the highlighted circles for each email filter a distraction, and see no advantages to the changes in the message display.  They SHOULD have left users the option of turning these new "features" if unwanted.  I have companies making decisions for me and shoving them down my throat!  Mozilla is supposed to be an ALTERNATIVE to MS, not its willing accomplice in the ongoing dumbing-down of our programs and O/S.

P.S.:   And what a flattering avatar they've chosen for me...

[PCThoughts]

Finding "Write Mail" is a scavenger hunt!  So NON-intuitive!

So many of my mails are MISSING!

It's wrecked and DAMAGED my work.  And i won't forget it, because i can't!

EVERY DAY I go on, only to find more damage.

They are proud of their "hobby" because they don't get paid and are CONVINCED they are the most well meaning people in the world!  But it's obvious to us, they are NOT!

[DRocket]

Now I am not getting any emails after 9am this morning, it's now 6:11pm. The emails went "somewhere" in this theme called System Theme-auto but I don't know where.

BTW, I am using TypeApp on my phone to read my emails so I know there should be a whole bunch of things in my inbox. TypeApp is an incredible email client on my phone. Couldn't live without it. And I guess that is where I am going to be managing my incoming emails for now. 

For what it's worth, version 115.4.1 (32 bit) was automatically installed on my computer while M has 115.2. He thinks I am doing something wrong, because his email works......

[artdo]

it is terrible! I don't know who the design team behind the scenes is, but they completely messed up with the new design. Is there a way to roll back to the eralier version? If not, I am afraid I'll switch to another email client.

[Fallen-Jeff]

If you made a Backup before the upgrade, you can install an earlier version from one of the archives. If you use a live installer, all it will do is reload the same program, no matter what the version number on the installer is. You need the entire program, which is about 65MB. Then, open up the Backup, copy, and paste on top of the item in USERS, [your name], AppData, Roaming, Thunderbird, Profiles. The program will continue to ask you to update, but just keep clicking on "not now."

[MickRoberts]

Yes, new version awful. Come on Thunderbird. I did donate just before this update as well.
You delete messages accidentally.
Delete button in awkward place when want to delete. Constantly clicking wrong menu buttons. 
Who has designed it like this? Did they not test it first? Give it their Mum, brother, sister, & stand over their shoulder while they used it? Please take it back to how it was then ASK ASK ASK.

[GBlades47]

The fonts in th headers are jaggy and not clear. The thing keeps saying "not responding". Even the "get new emails" is stuck away in the menus. The biggest cockup ever. We should be able to choose the version we want to use, even if they don't support it. I never had a problem before this new version. The layout is ugly and non-ergonomic.

No way an imnprovement, a huge backward step more like.

[Peter1410]

It was initially the typeface, layout and general graphic design that was clearly poor and ill thought out. But, having 'given it a try' for several weeks, the functionality of the new Thunderbird means it is far worse than just that. The failure of the Thunderbird team to recognise that, to put it right, and to easily enabler a return to the old Thunderbird that behaved in a practical, sensible, and timely way is quite reprehensible. The response, so far (ie zero) implies that the Thunderbird team take no notice of the feedback which is clearly saying - even from users who have tried to 'adapt to it - that it is a very very much poorer version than the previous one. Many of us chose Thunderbird and recommended it because it was much better than the alternatives - and could not recommend it on the basis of this poor imitation of the Thunderbird of old.  Thunderbird team - use your design and creative programming skills to put right the (relatively) minor bugs in the old system, and not waste your time and effort on this diabolical version. Enabling a return to the previous edition by yesterday would not be too soon